Hologram Building Rich UIs with Elixir Running in the Browser - Bart Blast | ElixirConf EU 2025

[CodeSync]

Hologram Building Rich UIs with Elixir Running in the Browser - Bart Blast | ElixirConf EU 2025

Hologram Building Rich UIs with Elixir Running in the Browser - Bart Blast | ElixirConf EU 2025

This talk was recorded at ElixirConf EU 2025. If you’re curious about our upcoming event, check https://elixirconf.eu

Abstract:
Building rich, interactive UIs in pure Elixir is now possible with Hologram - a full-stack isomorphic web framework. By automatically transpiling Elixir to JavaScript, Hologram enables Elixir code to run directly in the browser while keeping the state on the client side.
This talk demonstrates how Hologram analyzes code to determine what should run on the client vs server, transforms Elixir into JavaScript, and manages client-side state. Practical examples will showcase building interactive UIs without writing JavaScript, and illustrate how this approach leads to better performance, enhanced offline capabilities, and reduced server load.

Comments welcome! View the code-sync and elixirconf-eu tags for more Code Sync and ElixirConf EU talks!

[BartOtten]

Currently in the process of sprinkling a little JS into a LiveView app as to have client side support for fuzzy search (the usage environment has unreliable connection and high latency) while still benefiting from live updates of the candidate list. It now works, it’s nice, but it did make me wonder how Hologram would solve it.

And then this video dropped.

ps. great beard.

[jam]

Great job Bart! The future is bright for Hologram and Elixir.

[AstonJ]

Great talk @bartblast, I agree with the comments above and think with PWA features getting better by the day Hologram is taking shape at just the right time I will be curious to see what people build with it!

[ghannam80]

Thanks for sharing this one

It would be great to see Elixir enabling this type of apps as mobile apps a dominant client these days

[dblack]

Well done @bartblast! In the context of your newsletter #1 explaining your journey to get to the talk, you did a fantastic job. Keep going mate, both with Hologram and with your “Journey of growth”.

[bartblast]

@BartOtten

Currently in the process of sprinkling a little JS into a LiveView app as to have client side support for fuzzy search (the usage environment has unreliable connection and high latency) while still benefiting from live updates of the candidate list. It now works, it’s nice, but it did make me wonder how Hologram would solve it.

And then this video dropped.

ps. great beard.

Hologram would definitely help here - if you can keep some search-related state client-side, you could run that entire fuzzy search logic in Elixir right in the browser instead of dropping into JavaScript.

Even better, with planned local-first features you’ll be able to keep a subset of your database data directly in user browsers.

(And thanks for the beard compliment! My barber was fully aware of the significance of his role in the whole mission )

[bartblast]

@jam

Great job Bart! The future is bright for Hologram and Elixir.

Thanks @jam! The Elixir magic is real and I’m here for all of it!

[bartblast]

@AstonJ

Great talk @bartblast, I agree with the comments above and think with PWA features getting better by the day Hologram is taking shape at just the right time I will be curious to see what people build with it!

Thanks Aston! You’re spot on about the timing - it’s one of the reasons I’m optimistic about Hologram’s potential. PWA capabilities, browser APIs, and the overall web platform are all advancing in ways that make this approach much more viable now.

And thank you for creating the new thread! “What kind of apps will you be making with Hologram?” is exactly what I want to hear about. Can’t wait to see what ideas people share!

[bartblast]

@ghannam80

Thanks for sharing this one

It would be great to see Elixir enabling this type of apps as mobile apps a dominant client these days

Thanks! Yep, cross-platform, single codebase development is definitely part of the Hologram dream. The idea of writing your entire app - backend, web frontend, and mobile - all in Elixir is pretty compelling!

[bartblast]

@dblack

Well done @bartblast! In the context of your newsletter #1 explaining your journey to get to the talk, you did a fantastic job. Keep going mate, both with Hologram and with your “Journey of growth”.

Thanks so much, Darren! Yeah, that talk was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life - going from being terrified of public speaking to presenting at ElixirConf was quite the leap. Hardcore introverts like me will definitely understand that struggle

[trap98]

First of all, thank you @bartblast for your big work !

I really like your approach and I am very interested in it. The only big issue I see now that limit me and my team starting a project with hologram is the lack of a propre list saying what can be and cannot be done in the code that will pass through transpilation, I think that having this information to start coding with hologram is vital. I got some hints reading your roadmap and release that not everything works so we need to know exactly what does not work.

[bartblast]

That’s very illuminating feedback, thank you!

[AstonJ]

@bartblast

Yeah, that talk was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life - going from being terrified of public speaking to presenting at ElixirConf was quite the leap. Hardcore introverts like me will definitely understand that struggle

I’d never have guessed! You did a really good job

@bartblast

And thank you for creating the new thread! “What kind of apps will you be making with Hologram?” is exactly what I want to hear about. Can’t wait to see what ideas people share!

You might have to give us some pointers yourself Bart, help kick start the thread off

[bartblast]

@trap98

The only big issue I see now that limit me and my team starting a project with hologram is the lack of a propre list saying what can be and cannot be done in the code that will pass through transpilation, I think that having this information to start coding with hologram is vital. I got some hints reading your roadmap and release that not everything works so we need to know exactly what does not work.

There have been some updates Take a look at these reference pages:

• Client Runtime
• Features
• Roadmap